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Code of practice

1. Provide for or amend legislation which will empower the Minister of Economic Development, in consultation with the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Local Government to:
   1. approve one stakeholder code of practice that has been developed through a suitable process which will demonstrate:
      (a) that the process has resulted in a reasonable level of agreement between the relevant parties (network operators and local authorities) and that the level of agreement reflects the balance of interests of the parties and the area to which the code applies;
      (b) the principles by which the parties will collaborate, including how works can be co-ordinated;
      (c) the guidelines for the implementation of the reasonable conditions for access, including the operational and maintenance procedures, and how the risk from road-side hazards are assessed and managed; and
      (d) a process for dispute resolution
   2. reject a code of practice that does not meet the above criteria and notify the relevant stakeholders;
   3. where necessary, review and revoke a code of practice at either the request of a reasonable number of relevant parties reflecting a balance of interests, or on the Ministers own initiative;
   4. require that any significant amendment to an approved code of practice must be approved by the Minister for Economic Development. The test for significant will be that the amendment will materially change the requirements outlined in (i).
      The significant amendment must:
      (e) demonstrate a reasonable level of agreement;

   (f) contain a statement of the amendment;
   (g) provide the reason(s) for the amendment;
   (h) contain a statement of how the amendment changes the code of practice; and
   (i) contain a statement of how the amendment impacts on stakeholders interests.

   5. require that any regional variation to an approved code of practice must be approved by the Minister for Economic Development. The regional variation must:
      (j) be consistent with the code of practice;
      (k) be required because of specific regional issues such as geology or geography that result in inefficient or uneconomic outcomes if the code of practice was followed;
      (j) have been sought and agreed to by the relevant parties (network operators and local authorities) in the region and that the level of agreement reflects the balance of interests of the parties.
      
   6. Notify stakeholders of the approval of a code of practice.

Creating a regulated Code of practice

2. The empowering provisions and any regulations should enable the Minister of Economic Development, in consultation with the Minister for Transport and the Minister of Local Government, to
   1. Decide that stakeholders cannot agree to establish a satisfactory mechanism on a voluntary basis. The test would be that parties would continue to raise issues that seemed unable to be reasonably agreed on, or that the parties were failing to produce a Code of practice within a reasonable period of time, or any other circumstances under which the conclusion would be reached.
   2. Decide that a regulated code of practice should be created. The test would be that the development of a regulated code of practice would be the most appropriate way to improve the efficiency of utilities access while not compromising road safety, taking into account previous efforts by stakeholders to develop their own.